AUTHOR INFORMATION:Marissa
Meyer lives in Tacoma, Washington. Scarlet is her second novel, following on the success of her
debut, Cinder. Author information can also be found at marissameyer.com.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:Cinder, the
cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling
Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to
break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's
most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are
many things Scarlet doesn't know
about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When
Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have
information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to
trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her.
As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they
encounter another when they meet Cinder.
Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her
king, her prisoner…

FORMAT/INFO:Scarlet is 322 pages
in NOOK format (and is listed as 464 pages in hardcover) and has forty-seven
chapters. The narration is third-person and provides the perspective of
several characters, including Cinder, Prince Kai, Scarlet, and Wolf.Scarlet is the second volume in The
Lunar Chronicles quartet, following the book, Cinder.

Scarletwas published in
hardcover by Feiwel & Friends
on February 3, 2013. The UK version was published on February 7, 2013 via Puffin Books.

ANALYSIS:Scarlet Benoit is a young
woman with a lot going on in her life. Her grandmother, Michelle
Benoit, is missing; the police have dismissed the case, and she is left to
maintain their farm and produce delivery business. From the start of the
book, we are shown that Scarlet has a fiery personality to match her
vivid hair. While making a delivery to the bar of one of her regular
clients, Scarlet overhears patrons
heckling in response to a news bulletin showing what is being called Cinder’s
attemptedassassination of either Emporer Kai or the Lunar Queen Levana. The comments are certainly in poor taste
given that Cinder, a mere teenager, is going to be executed without any
type of trial, and Scarlet reacts without thinking, climbing onto the
bar and disconnecting the cable, knocking over glasses as she does so. From
the reaction she gets, we learn that her missing grandmother has long been
rumored to be crazy, and people wonder if Scarlet might not also be
herself.

Wolf, a young street fighter,is also
introduced in the bar scene. He is shy and awkward, but handsome, and Scarlet
is drawn to him even before he intervenes when she gets into a skirmish with
one of the bar patrons. Later, he tries to get work at Scarlet’s
farm. Though that doesn’t work out, she does allow him to accompany her
when she decides to go to rescue her grandmother after finding out that she has
indeed been kidnapped.

Interspersed
through the chapters involving Scarlet and Wolf are those that
further Cinder’s story. She uses the tools given to her at the end
of Cinder by Dr. Erland to
mount an escape that takes her through the jail cell of ex-Air Force cadet Carswell
Thorne.Thorne is a rogue and a thief, but he is quite charming
about it all. Since he has a ship, Cinder partners up with him, and
they escape together.

These
two “couples” are on somewhat of a crash course moving toward one
another. Instead of going directly to Africa, though, to help Dr. Erlander with his plan to defeat
the evil Queen Levana, Cinder and Thorne head to Europe to
find former military pilot Michelle Benoit—a woman with connections to Cinder’s
past. While the four try in various ways to find Scarlet’s grandmother,
we are given glimpses of Kai and his tense struggle to lead the Eastern
Comm0nwealth as well as his recently deceased father did, particularly by
avoiding war with the Lunars.

CONCLUSION: This book has a lot going for it.
I enjoyed Scarlet’s feistiness and the wounded hero potential of Wolf.Cinder’s flirty and candid android friend, Iko, makes a return
when Cinder finds an unexpected use for Iko’s personality
chip. Despite what it seems like at first, Thorne is not really
introduced to create a romantic diversion for Cinder, who really has
enough on her plate, not to mention unresolved feelings for Kai. Kai,
for his part, seems to be trying to figure out what really happened during the
supposed assassination attempt instead of simply dismissing what he felt for Cinder. Also,
the book introduces interesting elements of the world that Meyer has created, as well as giving nods to the classic tale, “Little
Red Riding Hood.”

Unfortunately,
there are components that did not leave me feeling satisfied with this
installment of the series. As an English teacher, I read with a critical
eye that I sometimes have a very hard time ignoring. The repetitious word
use in the book may not bother others, but I found myself zeroing in on the 38 versions
of the word “gulp” and 23 versions of “gasp.” (Because I was reading
the book on my computer, it was easy to search and find to count the
transgressions.) Also, as the book continued, Scarlet’s behavior
became less believable; she seemed less gutsy in her impetuous behavior and
more ridiculous.

I
will probably wait to read the third book in the quartet, Cress—which is
based on Rapunzel and will be set in
Northern Africa—until after I have read various reviews instead of rushing out
to buy it like I did Scarlet.